PES-KES News 1999 (December)

Hello dear friends and family,

We are so thankful to God for another year of His grace and favor. So much has happened this year, it’s hard to know what to put in here! But I’m not usually at a loss for words, so here goes!

Our “normal” schedule includes plenty of family time, church time with our beloved Atlanta Vineyard, and our wonderful home group. This year we were privileged and stretched to be able to be host family for 10 young people, plus a family of 6 from Belarus (not all at once!), in addition to our regular visitors. We’ve had just the 6 of us since October, and it’s SO quiet around here (we really do miss all the others!) We acquired two (hopefully) female gerbils this year—CC and Propeller, and still have faithful Jaffa. We decided this was the year for a significant diet change, so we’ve all switched to a higher protein, lower carb diet, with wonderful results so far in terms of more energy and less flabbiness (or crabbiness, as the case may be!). We had quite some excitement earlier this year, when Jonathan broke his collarbone falling out of bed, and a few weeks later, Michael had eye surgery (for strabismus). Both have healed up beautifully. We had a vegetable garden for the first time at this house, in the 8-tiered garden Paul built. The boys enjoyed growing corn, 4 o’clock flowers, and cucumbers. The Sculley Academy (“Excellence, Virtue, Relationship”) had our 1st annual open house, with several family members in attendance. We’ve enjoyed several family vacations—kids camp in Alabama, Sea World and friends in Orlando, sister Ellissa’s & Marc’s wedding in Virginia, rest & relaxation in Nth Georgia and Hilton Head.

Paul has for the first time a commute that allows him to come home for lunch! He has been with Lanier since March, and enjoys the work (high-tech toys for doctors, lawyers, and insurance agents). He enjoys building models from wood, worshiping God along with music CDs, reading books with Karen and the children, surfing the net, playing with the kids, home group, his men’s prayer group, teaching kids, movies, and diet Coke & coffee.

Karen enjoys juggling multiple responsibilities, and is still working on finding the balls she drops! She enjoys teaching the children, dating Paul, dating the kids, home group, Sundays (church & lunch!), friends, praying & worshiping God, being with people, women’s groups, nature walks, chocolate, playing at the park, gardening, snuggling with the kids, reading, emails, and sleeping through the night (this hadn’t happened for a full year since pre-baby days 🙂 – 1990).

Peter (8) – passionate, dramatic, inquisitive . . . enjoys models, archery, origami, sewing, giving, woodwork, tools & gadgets, chess, math, praying, dreaming, Bible, tennis, soccer, German, sign language, baseball, piano, recorder, reading, running, skipping, swimming, hiking, the way things work, exuberantly expressing himself to his family!

Jonathan (5-11/12) – suave, focused, sensitive . . . enjoys symmetry, creating, drawing, coloring, sewing, thinking, math, soccer, archery, friends, playing house (daddy, mummy, baby, teenager), tea parties, preparing garden “stew” (fresh veggies w/ cold water), reading, piano, collecting, leading Michael & Cascade in creative play, people, being Mr. Kool, his nicknames (esp. Chooch).

Michael (4-1/2) – joyful, flexible, bouncy . . . enjoys reading, Peter and the Wolf (CD, book, movie, Mummy singing the parts, etc.), sticks, singing, anything that remotely resembles a gun, soccer, David & Goliath (“is it bigger than Goliath?”), killer whales (Sea World is “the killer whale place”), “bagrillas,” running, hiking, watching his shadow.

Cascade (2-1/2) – affectionate, determined, curious . . . enjoys water (bath, potty, sink, cups, spills, puddles, you name it), “Beff and Mansa” (Beth & Samantha), climbing, being emotional, her babies, being the princess with 3 doting courtiers, hiding when she’s found a stash of candy, showering us with hugs and kisses.

Kid Quotes:
“It’s OK for cars to be lukewarm, but not people!” (Peter)
“I’m the only Jonathan who gets sunburned in 10 minutes!” (Jonathan)
“I like this place!” (Michael)
“Here my are!” (Cascade)
“Lord, help us to give the poor what they want and what they need and a little bit extra.” (Peter)
“But mummy, life is not hard to me!” (Jonathan)
“Mouths are for eating . . . eyes are for eyedrops and glasses, right?” (Michael)
“Jesus loves me, this I know . . . we are wheat, but He is song.” (Cascade)
“If you put your heart in God, you will live forever in heaven.” (Peter)
“Father, help us to eat the fruit of Jesus.” (Jonathan)
“K-tana!” (Michael)
“A, B, C, D, E, F, gey, now I know you little B” (alphabet song by Cascade)

In closing, here’s a prayer Jonathan prays often: “Dear Lord, please lift up everybody in our family & everybody we know all the days of our life and their life, and pour down love on them all the days of our life and their life.”

We love you each—God bless you—
Paul, Karen, Peter, Jonathan, Michael, Cascade